Someone Needs A Chill Pill

A few years ago, I worked at a call center. It was a terrible job. This place was a revolving door. We always had hundreds of calls in the queue. Getting yelled at multiple times every day took its toll on me.

One day, I had a bad call. I answered the call with the required greeting.

Me: “Thank you for holding. This is [My Name]. May I have your name, please?”

Caller: “This is Doctor [Caller].”

Me: “Hello, Doctor [Caller]. How may I assist you today?”

Caller: “I have been on hold for over forty-five minutes. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Me: “I apologize for your wait time. We have had an influx of calls today. How can I help you?”

Caller: “Someone from your company left a voicemail about one of my patients, and I was returning their call.”

Me: “Okay, may I have the patient’s name and date of birth?”

Caller: “She didn’t say who it was about. Just wanted me to call.”

Me: “Did you get the representative’s name?”

Caller: “No, she just said to call back at this number, and that’s what I am doing.”

I found that to be weird; normally when someone called, they would leave their name and direct number along with the patient they were calling about. I figured it was one of the claim managers who had called the doctor. We had hundreds of claim managers spread across three call centers, and there was no way to pinpoint who it was.

I let the caller know this, and I apologized for the inconvenience. I let him know that most likely the same person who called would reach back out to him.

Caller: “Well, I should have known no one could help. I wasted valuable time on this call.”

Me: “I sincerely apologize for your time being taken up. I know you are very busy and don’t have time for this.”

Caller: “An apology is not going to be good enough. I’ll tell you what I am going to do. I need your company address.”

I thought he was going to write a letter to complain.

Me: “Yes, sir, I can provide you with our corporate office’s address.”

Caller: “Oh, and what is your name again?”

I gave him my first name.

Caller: “I also need your last name and address. I am going to send a bill to you and your company for my time today.”

I was shocked that someone would say that. I had tried to help him. There wasn’t anything else I could do since the previous representative didn’t leave the information to retrieve the patient’s account.

I decided I was not going to give this doctor any information, and I disconnected the call. 

I couldn’t send the call to the supervisor without the patient’s name. I quit the next day. I was only at the call center for two months.